Second Class Supers – Page 10

Kya was extremely relieved when her shift ended and she left before Leonard had a chance to say more than two words to her. She got on the bus with her headphones already on and zoned out listening to music and staring out the window. She wanted nothing more than to pretend the week never happened, but her pent up frustration ate at her.
Her pocket buzzed, and she took out her phone to see a text from Amelia. Just seeing her friend’s name improved Kya’s mood as she opened the message.
>Switched shifts with Jacob today, free this evening! Wanna chill?
>Sure, but can we do it at my place? I’m kind of beat from this week from hell.
>Will Sam be there?
>I don’t know.
Why?
Is my presence not enough?
>Now that you mention it… lol
Kya smiled and stored her phone back in her shoulder bag. It quickly sunk down amongst the rest of the random things Kya carried when she brought her purse.

When Kya got home, Sam was sitting in the living room still in his work clothes, his tie loosened, and a beer open on the table beside him. He had a stack of tests in front of him, and a red pen in his right hand, but his attention was intently focused on the tablet in his left.
“Hey,” Kya said as she dropped her keys in the dish, “just so you know, Amelia’s going to come over, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, that’s fine.” He replied without looking up.
“Umm… There’s also been an invasion of mutant alien cats.”
“Mmm. That’s good.”
“They have the president.” She said.
“Okay.”
“Sam!” Kya said sternly.
Sam pulled his eyes away from his screen, and looked at her innocently.
“You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”
“Yeah, I did. Amelia’s coming over, mutant cats, no more president.” Sam grinned.
Kya rolled her eyes. “You are something special.”
She walked into her room to drop her stuff, and have a quick shower before Amelia arrived.

Amelia came bearing gifts, her arms were nearly buckling as they brimmed with fresh fruit, a salad and pasta.
“Nice spread!” Sam said looking towards the door with a nod. “But you didn’t have to do that. We have tonnes of food here.”
“I know I didn’t have to.” Amelia said with a smile. She barely paid Kya any attention as Kya started unloading Amelia’s bounty of groceries onto the counter.
“You made the pasta?” Kya asked though she knew she was right.
Amelia nodded. “It needs to be warmed up though.”
Kya helped Amelia ready the food and set the table, while Sam got some of his marking done. The smell of fresh pasta, tomato, basil, and an assorted other spices filled the apartment as each person went to the kitchen and loaded their plates in turn.
“Hey, Sam,” Amelia said as they all sat down to eat. “What’s that you were doing?”
“Marking math tests.” Sam replied, scooping up a mouthful of pasta.
“Oh, that’s so wonderful.” Amelia said with a grin.
Sam raised his eyebrows, a look of confusion spreading across his face. “How are math tests wonderful?”
“I mean,” Amelia blushed, “if you’re marking tests, doesn’t that mean you have a class now?”
“Yeah!” Kya said a little too loudly. “My Sammy’s growing up! He’s no longer just a supply teacher.”
“At least not until September.” Sam added. “I’m covering a maternity leave.”
“Teacher’s can get pregnant?” Amelia asked.
Kya and Sam both stared at her, a blank look on both of their faces.
Amelia, realizing her mistake, continued, “I mean teachers can afford enough for fertility treatments?”
Sam shook his head. “Not without years of savings. But from what I understand, this one happened naturally.”
“Really?” Kya asked. “That’s amazing! That means neither parent had fertility issues.”
“Seems that way.” Sam replied, shrugged and then turned his attention back to his meal. “Amelia, this is really good.” He said after finishing a good portion of his pasta.
“Why thank you.” Amelia said with a little bow of her head. “There’s more good stuff where that came from.”
Kya cleared her throat trying to cover her friend’s blatant flirtation. “So, anyway.” She stirred her food on her plate trying to figure out what to say. “Good old Donnie is getting two more supers. I -”
“Two? At once?” Sam asked, his eyes as wide as saucers. “Man! He’s almost as bad as Myles Redwood.”
“What?” Amelia asked.
“Myles capped out on Supers this week! His first just manifested within the past day, and he has gone four more times, each at different facilities to have treatments. I guess the painful injections weren’t enough to dissuade him from doing it.” Sam took a long swig of his beer, emptying the remnants of the bottle he had started before Kya had arrived home.
“Can you imagine?” Kya said, staring off into space as she thought about the Supers she would get. “Having the money to buy not just one but five Supers all at once.”
“Tell me about it!” Amelia said with a grin.
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Sam said with an edge to his voice. “Just starting to realize what life is going to be like with one Super. You have absolutely no control over it and then four more about to manifest in the next week. It’s insane!”
“It can’t be that bad.” Amelia said with a nonchalant shrug.
“Yeah, it’s fast, but…” Kya trailed off not fully sure of her point.
“It’s a recipe for disaster.” Sam said in a dismissive tone.
Kya looked at both Sam and Amelia, and they all seemed to agree to temporarily eat in silence as a hushed tone filled the apartment, other than the sounds of forks and knives scraping Sam’s beautifully painted custom dishes.
Finally breaking five minutes of quiet, Amelia spoke up, directing her question at Kya. “If your boss has another two Supers, does that cap him out?”
“Yep.” Kya replied, pushing her last noodles across her plate. “Strength, Invulnerability, some kind of super Memory… And then two more. He’ll probably spread them out though. He likes lording them over us, and I can’t see him wanting to stop that.”
“Well,” Amelia interjected. “He can always swap one out.”
Sam stood up to clear his plate. He looked like he wanted to say something but he stayed silent. He leaned over the table and grabbed both of the girl’s plates.
“What a gentleman!” Amelia said with an extra wide grin and a flip of her hair.
Kya rolled her eyes and hoped neither of them saw.
“I can’t even imagine getting sick of a Super and wanting to switch it out.” Kya said.
“Oh, I can.” Amelia said. “I mean, I’d probably like telepathy for a while, but I’d get sick of it. But I’d probably enjoy it for a few months.”
“I don’t think you’d like it. Besides, I hear the extraction process is even more painful.” Sam said from the kitchen.
Amelia laughed. “Okay, probably not. But even just having any power and being able to see what’s on the fourth floor of the Uptown Center.”
Kya laughed, “Yeah! Or how about getting to ride the train for once!”
“Or getting to see a doctor at the hospital if you’re sick.” Amelia said.
“Screw that! Super Healing… Hello?”
With his face turning a little red, Sam finally broke back into the conversation. “It’s not all sunshine and lollipops, ladies!” Sam said. “It’s a potentially life threatening choice that you are putting yourself through.”
“Life threatening? No sane person would attempt to get more than the maximum. They’re pretty clear that it could result in death.” Amelia said twirling her hair, trying to hold Sam’s attention.
“I didn’t mean getting more than five. There is risk in even just controlling one power.” Sam said.
Kya raised her eyebrows and leaned on the table, gesturing for Sam to sit back down.